New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-03-27
HIGH LICENSE IN MICHIGAN.

HIGH LICENSE IN MICHIGAN
| A mass meeting was held at Detroit last Mon
day evening to protest against the proposed Pro
hbitory amendment 10 the Michigan Constitu-
ton. The local journals state that it was a
representative meeting. composed largely OF
merchants and business men, and owing moth
ing to the liquor interest. A number Of prom
ncnt speakers appeared, and argued for high
license rs opposed to Prohibition. Now the
chief significance OF this is that the people OF
| Michigan know from personal experience wha,
so called Prohibition amounts to. They had IT
on their statutc-book for twenty years namely
from 1855 TO 1875. and this is what Professor
Kent said of it: "The law was declared con
stitutional by our Supreme Court and s,rlIg
gle Of year or so followed in a vain cndcayor
to enforce it. But it very shortly fell into what
| President Cleveland would call 'nnocuous
dcsue,udc.' and the pollutIng whishcy stream
dclugcd the State from one end TO the other
There was hardly a corner in this city where
there was not a drinking hole. All that was
necessary in those days TO start n grocery with
was a cabbage or two set in the window. n jar
Of fy-spcckcd cornball candy and jug OF
whiskry." lntempcnncc increased frigbtfully.
in fact what was called prohibition had brought
Free Rum. and with an ostcnsibly ironclad law
on the statute book there was actually no law
at all in operation That is how Prohibition
worked in the State Of Michigan and that i
why the people of Detroit do not want TO try
the experiment again.
Now Michigan having tried Prohibition and
asccrtancd that it really meant Free Rum. and
| being earnestly resolved TO mitigate the drink
evil in some way, undertook regulation, that il
! TO saw High License. Such law was enacted
and following are some Of the results attained
under it, Says Professor Kent: "ln 1873
We hal under Prohibition Gill saloons. Then
regulation went into effect Ia SIC our Sta'o
returns showed 4SG7 dealers or ST. Of the
G,4Ii blottcd out in one year In 1877 the
returns showed 3,90G dealers 20 that sol more
saloons went out" Take the population test
again. In 1875. as shown. Michigan had G,4lI
saloons, with population of 1874, OIL. 9TH,
made ono saloon for every 2O7 inhabitants.
In 1882. six years after the law went into
effect, the records Of the United States revenue
showed the number Of saloons was reduced
from G.444 TO 3.4Gl. or one saloon TO every
536 people, our population bcing then 1885,
100, decrease under the tax law OF 2.9S3
saloons. nearly 20 per cent. Now without this
tax law, and under the old Prohibition law,
we should have been afflicted with S0G6
saloons instead Of 31Gl. Taxation
| has spared us al this catalogue of woes. and
/ has put into the county treasures Of tho State
up 10 this date total Of So, 81, 92l." Surely
il is not possible to produce any evidence more
practical moro conclusive than this. The
sole valuable test Of the efficacy of any law is
tho result OF its operation. Prohibition wa,
put TO that test in Michigan for twenty years
and it proved an gnominous and disastrous
failure Instead Of checking intcmpcrancc il
increased it enormously. and under il the
saloon evil developed unprcccdcnlclly.
The PrOhibitonstS say that High License
will not diminish the number Of the saloons
Well the answer to that assertion il The case
OF Michigan. A lower license law than thc
Crosby bill has in flat State cut down the
number Of saloons so per cent in fact OK
Governor Bcgolc writing on this subject not
long ago, said Under the tax law the nun
Der of places where intoxicating lonors are
sold has decreased more than one half" Il
is no wonder, under the circumstances that the
SYNOD Of the Presbyterian Church OF Michigan
has declared in recent report against Pro
hibitl0n ana cNpichScu ltScll IN favor OF local
option with High License or taxation. Pro
fessor Kent. however put his finger upon tic
handspring Of the Prohibition agitation Ct the
present time when he said "Thc trouble is
there is political plot under this Prohibition
mill. Aspirants for Office already appear in the
third party which they are trying TO organize
and it is therefore for their interests TO agitate
and make politicians believe that they arc
power in politics. that they may so win n place
for themselves and find the oilicchoder's re-
ward" No doubt this is why the oycrwhclm
ing evidence against the practicability Of Pro-
hibiton produces no impression whatever upon
those who are managing the third-party
movement. But whenever the sober and dis
interested public. and those who have the
heaviest interests at stake are called upon for
an expression Of their opinions thcy are
found, like the meeting at Detroit, like the
recent meeting in New. York, pronounced